In which one of the following methods of performance appraisal, predetermined percentages of rates are placed in various performance categories ?
Forced Distribution Method
Forced distribution method — option 2. The defining words are predetermined percentages.
How it works. The appraiser is required to distribute his employees across performance categories in fixed proportions, decided in advance and modelled on the normal curve. A common pattern is :
| Category | Predetermined share |
|---|---|
| Outstanding | 10% |
| Above average | 20% |
| Average | 40% |
| Below average | 20% |
| Poor | 10% |
The problem it is designed to solve. Left to themselves, appraisers cluster their ratings, and three rating errors follow: leniency, rating nearly everyone highly; strictness, the reverse; and central tendency, rating everyone in the middle to avoid difficult conversations. Forcing a distribution makes such clustering arithmetically impossible and compels the appraiser to discriminate.
Its cost, which is serious. The method assumes performance in every group is normally distributed. In a small team, or one that has been carefully selected, that is simply false — someone must be placed in the bottom category even if nobody is genuinely poor. It damages morale, discourages collaboration, and where it is used to remove the bottom tier each year it is known as “rank and yank”. Several large firms that pioneered it, GE among them, have since abandoned it.
The other three methods, for contrast.
| Method | How it works |
|---|---|
| Alternation ranking | Pick the best employee, then the worst, then the best of the remainder, then the worst, working inward until all are ranked |
| Paired comparison | Compare every employee with every other, one pair at a time; the number of times each is preferred gives the ranking. Thorough, but the number of comparisons rises steeply with group size |
| Check-list | The appraiser ticks statements that describe the employee; the statements carry weights unknown to him, and the personnel department scores them |
All three are comparative or trait methods and belong to the traditional family, alongside the graphic rating scale, essay and confidential report. The modern family — MBO, BARS, 360-degree feedback and assessment centres —> focuses on results and behaviour rather than on ranking people against one another.
Hence, the answer is Forced Distribution Method.
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The ration of the number of girls and boys in a school is 8 : 7. If the percentage increase in the number of girls and boys is 10% and 20% respectively, what will be the new ratio?
The cheapest means of transport is:
The property of Catenation is most readily predominant in:
Which newspaper edited by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, was one of the strongest critics of the British rule?
Which of the following is NOT a cause of food and water contamination?
